Swiss authorities draw anger over segregation for asylum seekers

Asylum seekers have been banned from using a swimming pool, attending churches
or reading in the library under a new Swiss policy that authorities say is
intended to promote peaceful coexistence with local people.

An asylum seeker in the 'Les Pradieres' centre for refugees near Neuchatel Photo: Reuters

By Jeevan Vasagar, Berlin

5:13PM BST 07 Aug 2013

A list of 32 "exclusion zones" for refugees has been drawn up after the opening of a new national asylum seekers' centre in the Swiss town of Bremgarten, 20km west of Zurich.

The Bremgarten centre, a former military base with space for 150 people, is one of a series of national facilities for asylum seekers being opened in Switzerland after local authorities struggled to find temporary housing.

The restrictions ban asylum seekers from school playgrounds, the town's community hall and centre for the elderly, and from visiting the outdoor swimming pool without explicit permission from the authorities.

The rules have provoked anger, with the charity Swiss Refugee Aid describing the segregation policy as "untenable on legal and humanitarian grounds".

Urs von Däniken, of the Swiss federal office for migration, told the German broadcaster ARD: "These are sensitive areas which have been marked out in the interests of peaceful coexistence between society and asylum seekers."

Raymond Tellenbach, the town's mayor, told the broadcaster: "We have decided on security grounds not to allow access to these areas, to prevent conflict and guard against possible drug use." However, church authorities have insisted that the church should be "open to all people".

In June, Swiss voters backed tougher asylum rules that deny refugee status to conscientious objectors and army deserters. The rules also state that asylum seekers may no longer file applications at Swiss embassies.

The Swiss government wants to speed up its decision-making process on asylum claims, cutting the time it takes to handle requests to under a year.

Switzerland has a relatively high number of refugees, in proportion to its population. Figures published by the EU show that, in 2011, there were around 24,600 asylum seekers in Switzerland, which has a total population of about 8m, compared with about 26,400 asylum seekers in the UK and 53,000 in Germany.

The first residents of the Bremgarten centre, who include Tibetan and Sudanese refugees, moved in on Monday.

Similar restrictions on movement have been imposed on refugees at a centre in Nottwil, a Swiss town 20km north-west of Lucerne, where asylum seekers are banned from the school, a centre for the elderly and a camping site, according to Swiss press reports. Other towns where national asylum centres are due to open are in talks with the government about imposing segregated areas.